13 Facts About Hamish MacCunn

Hamish MacCunn, ne James MacCunn was a Scottish composer, conductor and teacher.

Hamish MacCunn was one of the first students of the newly founded Royal College of Music in London, and quickly made a mark.

Hamish MacCunn held teaching appointments at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music.

James Hamish MacCunn was born in Greenock, Scotland, the second son of James Hamish MacCunn and his wife Barbara, nee Neill.

At the RCM Hamish MacCunn studied piano with Franklin Taylor, viola with Alfred Gibson and composition with Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford.

In 1885 MacCunn adopted the first name Hamish, a Gaelic version of the name James.

Hamish MacCunn resigned the scholarship in 1886 in what the music critic John Purser describes as "a fit of pique" because he felt he was not receiving the social status due to him.

From 1888 to 1894 Hamish MacCunn was professor of harmony at the RCM's older rival the Royal Academy of Music and took private pupils.

In 1889 the opera manager Carl Rosa commissioned Hamish MacCunn to write a work for the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and in 1891 Hamish MacCunn contracted to write an opera for Richard D'Oyly Carte's new Royal English Opera House.

In 1896 Jeanie Deans received a London performance, and Hamish MacCunn composed another opera, Diarmid and Ghrine.

In 1910 Hamish MacCunn conducted Hansel and Gretel in Thomas Beecham's opera season at His Majesty's Theatre, and took over from Beecham in conducting The Tales of Hoffmann on tour.

From 1912 onwards Hamish MacCunn took opera classes at the Guildhall School of Music and continued to teach privately.

Hamish MacCunn became ill with throat cancer in 1916 and died at his home in St John's Wood, London on 2 August 1916, aged forty-eight, survived by his widow and son.